To measure distances in the universe, astronomers use cepheids, a family of variable stars whose luminosity varies with time. Their role as distance calibrators has brought them attention from researchers for more than a ...

An unmanned Russian supply ship disintegrated as it plummeted to Earth on Friday after suffering a communications failure on its way to the International Space Station, in a fiery end to a mission to deliver oxygen, water ...

Russia said an unmanned supply ship that missed a rendezvous with the International Space Station will burn up on re-entering the Earth's atmosphere after the spacecraft suffered a communications failure.

Debris from the US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F13 satellite, which recently exploded in orbit, could pose a threat to other spacecraft and missions according to new research from the University of Southampton.

Two University of Sydney aeronauticalengineering PhD researchers have been invited by the European Space Agency (ESA) to help realise the dream of travelling across the globe at 7 times the speed of sound.

What do bats, birds, sea turtles and even primates have to do with the International Space Station? Scientists want to use the orbiting laboratory's spectacular view to track creatures on our planet and learn more about their ...

Last year was a notable one for scientific achievements: In 2014, European researchers discovered a fundamental new particle that sheds light on the origins of the universe, and the European Space Agency successfully landed ...

Cargo has arrived at the International Space Station to support approximately 40 of the more than 250 science and research investigations that will be performed during Expeditions 43 and 44, including numerous human research ...

European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states. Headquartered in Paris, ESA has a staff of close to 2,000 with an annual budget of about €3.6 billion in 2009.

ESA's main spaceport is the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana. It is close to the equator, hence commercially important orbits are easier to access. ESA became the market leader in commercial space launches in the 1990s. In recent years, ESA has also established itself as a major player in space exploration.

ESA science missions are based at ESTEC in Noordwijk, Netherlands, Earth Observation missions at ESRIN in Frascati, Italy, ESA Mission Control (ESOC) is in Darmstadt, Germany, the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) that trains astronauts for future missions is situated in Cologne, Germany and the European Space Astronomy Centre is located in Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain.